monism

• the key philosopher for monism is Aristotle

  • monism is also known as materialism
  • other thinkers include Richard Dawkins + John Hick
• Aristotle was an empiricist + rejected Plato's concept of the world of Forms
• Aristotle's thinking on the soul was based on deductions from the world of sense experience
• Aristotle held that the soul is what gives something its essential nature

  • it shapes + gives life to the body
  • all living things have souls which organise them to get what they need for survival
  • not all living things have the same faculties - as seen in his hierarchy of souls; only the human soul has the capacity for rational thought
• Aristotle believed that, through reason, humans are able to make moral + intellectual development

  • the soul develops on an individual's skills + character; it is the 'principle of life'
• Aristotle believed that the soul was mortal
• evaluation of Aristotle's monist idea of the soul

  • it is against the view held by many Christians that at death the soul leaves the body to return to its true home
  • however, many also think of themselves as an integrated unity - the mind/soul is distinct from but at the same time inseparable from the body